Feb 5, 2011 | Big Shot, Birthday, Cards, Pierced Circle, Sale-A-Bration 2011, SU Buttons, SU Ribbon |
Good morning everyone! I think our rain has stopped – we had a little bit of snow/sleet on Thursday but it stopped and I was able to head out to a class at Tammy’s house that night. The rain is not helping the work that is going on at our house. We are having our old screened porch/deck converted to a large sunroom/small deck. The construction has been going on the days in between the bad weather – I’m hoping for nice weather all week so they can get it done. And hopefully all the construction isn’t keeping my birds away. I’m would expect to see them already shopping for bird houses to nest in but I haven’t seen much activity. It might be because the weather has been colder than normal or a combination of the two. This year I have added the woodpecker house and I have one more house to add but I haven’t put that one out yet. I’ll keep you posted as soon as the action starts.
On to my project for today. These are some cute cards featuring Sale-A-Bration stamps and accessories. I have been using these cards in some of my classes/workshops the last couple of weeks and everybody loves them.
The idea for this card came from the Stampin’ Success magazine that Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators receive each month. It is packed with ideas and articles for us to read. I decided to use the layout and then make more than just the one card that they showed but create more cards using the other stamps in the Punch Bunch stamp set. I gave everyone at my classes the choice of what they wanted to make. Each card was unique as every person used a different stamp and selection of the die cuts from the Ice Cream Parlor pack.
The card base is Old Olive. At the bottom is a die-cut strip, then above that is a piece of the double-sided Designer Series paper – some people chose to show the dotted side and others the pink side. Above that is a piece of the Ice Cream parlor ribbon – this ribbon has flowers printed on one side so when you tie it in a knot make sure you twist the end so the printed side shows. Stamp the image and punch out with the coordinating punch and add it to the front with Stampin’ Dimensionals. See below for the instructions on creating the pierced circle and do that before you add all the die-cuts and the buttons. One trick that you might want to know about the die-cuts – if you want to pop them up with Stampin’ Dimensionals – stick them to your jeans first to remove some of the adhesive on the back and then add the dimensionals to pop them up.
Do you see the pierced circle in the background? I love that idea but I thought there is no way I can make an even circle like that. I remembered that Stampin’ Up! used to have the brass embossing templates and many of those had piercing patterns on them too. We don’t sell those anymore so I wanted to come up with a way to do the same thing with what we do have. It just so happened I had one of the large die-cut scallop circles lying on my craft table and that gave me this idea. So here are the instructions on how to create a pierced circle:
Step 1: cut a die-cut scalloped circle using the Big Shot machine and one of the dies – you can vary the size of your circle by using a different sized scallop circle for your template.
Step 2: Place a piercing mat underneath your card stock and the scallop circle on top. Use a paper piercer and pierce in between each pair of scallops to create a circle – using the scallop keeps the holes evenly spaced.
Step 3: If you want the holes closer together add another hole in between each pair that you punched.
Ta-da! A pierced circle!
How easy was that? I’m going to use this idea on some other cards not that I figured it out and I’m going to take a look at my other dies to see if I can create some other piercing patterns. To save the templates cut them out of the cardboard backer from the Designer Series paper and it will last longer than using a piece of card stock.
Have a fun weekend!
Stamping Together at Monika’s Place – February 2011 Newsletter – CLICK HERE.
February 2011 Ribbon Share – CLICK HERE.
Jan 18, 2011 | Cards, Rock 'n Roll, UDI Color Challenge |
I was so tired when I returned from the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference that I did not get to work on my Utah Diva’s Color Challenge card until late last night. That was the first time I had made it back to my craft room. Most of yesterday I was on the computer and cleaning up around the house (I still have plenty more of that to do today). Finally my boys are back in school. It is January 18 and until today they had only had 4 days of school this month and one of those counted towards last semester because they missed a day of exams right before the Christmas break. The last note we saw said they have to only make up 2 of the days that they have missed so far – there were 4 “extra” days built into the schedule.
We are on #19 of the Utah Diva’s Color Challenge. Click on this link to go to the Utah Diva’s Color Challenge blog. This is the inspiration that Gretchen gave us this week –
I did get to see Gretchen at the Leadership conference – only for a few minutes Friday night during our make&takes. I can’t wait for you to see those – I’m trying to get pictures of all that kind of stuff today. I always love to see in real life the people that I know from Stampin’ Up! through blogs, yahoo groups and from reading about them in the Stampin’ Up! magazine and website. It’s like talking to celebrities!
Gretchen is definitely giving us challenges with these colors each week. And here was another set that I thought – what am I going to do with that? And since I was really late I needed to come up with something really quick. Garden Green, Peach Parfait, Real Red and Basic Black – vivid colors and our inspiration piece involved food so my thoughts turned to a little old stamp set that I haven’t used in a while – Tart & Tangy. Remember that one? It is a set that I really liked to use in the summer time. So I pulled it out and tried to put the challenge colors with it – the Strawberry, Apple and Cherries could all use the Garden Green and Real Red, Black could be my accent so for this card the citrus fruit was going to be a Peach Parfait colored orange slice (I have also used it as a lemon or lime). I wasn’t sure I was going to like this card but in the end I do like it.
The card base is the Garden Green – which seems to be the common color between most of the fruit and what I used on my “HELLO”. Then I added a layer of Basic Black – I thought about embossing it with one of the folders but then it occurred to me that I could also use my Crimper and give it a corrugated look like a card board box – perhaps that is what the fruit came in…. If you want to add some texture and you don’t have a Big Shot and Texture Impressions folders try using a crimper instead. I tied some Real Red Grosgrain ribbon around the card.
The best part is the fruit.
And making it look juicy using Crystal Effects. The strawberry and the apple were colored with Stampin’ Write markers and stamped on Whisper White card stock. I used the Black marker to add the seeds. The orange slice is inked with the Peach Parfait ink and then Rock ‘n Rolled in Real Red – that is why the edges have some red in them. The other little trick I did was for the Hello tag – it is a short Word Window. You do this by punching out the Word Window and then stick it back in the side of the punch, line it up and punch again to create a short piece.
Cut the pieces out and then carefully cover with Crystal Effects – and let it dry. If you touch it before it is dry you will put a finger print in your shiny fruit and you don’t want that. I attached all the fruit with Stampin’ Dimensionals and also the hello – I actually added the Crystal Effects to the Hello after I put it on the card – and I used a straight pin to pull it all the way out to the ends. You do have to punch first – the Crystal Effects is just enough that you’ll have trouble getting the card stock in the punch later if you do it after wards. I hope you learned a few little fun tips with this card.
Now it is your turn to play with these colors – then go to the UDI blog and add your creation to the linky section.
Stampin’ Up! Supplies:
- Card stock: Garden Green, Basic Black, Whisper White
- Ink: Peach Parfait, Real Red, Garden Green, Stampin’ Write Markers: Real Red, Garden Green, Basic Black
- Stamp sets: Tart & Tangy, Fundamental Phrases
- Accessories: Real Red wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Crimper, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Word Window punch, Crystal Effects
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
Dec 7, 2010 | Bingo, Christmas, stamped candle, UDI Color Challenge |
I missed last weeks color challenge but I’m here again this week. We are on week #13 click on this link to go to the Utah Diva’s Color Challenge. Here is our inspiration for this week:
Just the right colors for working on Christmas projects. I had a workshop on Sunday afternoon and my hostess, Molly, wanted to learn how to make stamped candles. So that was what I did and used these colors on one of my candles. Here is the sample for the Color Inspiration and I’ll show you another example at the end of the instructions. Yes – I’m going to give you instructions on how to make these cute candles.
This example uses the colors for this weeks challenge – More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green and Real Red. This stamp set is called Holiday Lineup from the big Idea Book & Catalog. I really like all the characters – these are the elves, then there are the snowmen and the reindeer. All of them have the funniest facial expressions – I just wonder what they are all thinking about.
Are you wondering how to make a candle like this all by yourself. Well you need a few things – first you need tissue paper – the white kind that you put in your gift boxes – you probably have some of that around right now with Christmas coming up soon. You also need some wax paper – from the kitchen. You want your stamp set, Stampin’ Write markers and I used Jet Black StazOn ink but you could do this with regular classic black ink. And you need the heat tool. You can add the embellishments to dress it up if you want to.
I l
earned how to make these candles a long time ago and it is always so magical to me. First stamp your image on a piece of tissue paper – I stamped mine with Jet Black StazOn. Then color with the Stampin’ Write markers. Make sure you have grid paper or scratch paper underneath because the darker markers will bleed through because the tissue is so thin. Once I’m done coloring I tear the tissue close to the image all the way around. You may ask why don’t I cut around – when you tear you leave a soft feathered edge, when you cut you leave a defined edge which in my opinion shows through when you apply it to the candle – the feathered edge disappears.
Place tissue paper on candle
Once you are done tearing all the way around then position the tissue paper where you want it on the candle. I used a short pillar candle with enough room to add ribbon underneath. I also used this same stamp set on little votive candles and the images just fit between the bottom and the top edge of the candle – they are really cute too.
Wrap with wax paper and hold like a handle
Now you are going to wrap a piece of wax paper around the candle covering the tissue paper. Pull it tight and on the back of the candle hold the two ends together. This creates a handle for you to hold the candle while you heat it.
Now you need your Heat Tool – start at one end of the image on the tissue paper and start heating. You will see the tissue paper disappear into the candle. In this photo on the left you can see where I have heated it – the first two elves are melted in. Where the third elf is and over towards the right I haven’t heated it yet so you can still see the tissue paper.
Heat with Heat Tool
Continue heating until all the tissue disappears. This does not take long and do not stay on one section of the candle too long because you will melt the candle wax. It’s like magic when all the tissue paper disappears but the image is still there.
All done heating
Remove the wax paper
Once your done with the heating you peel off the wax paper revealing your stamped image on your candle.
To decorate the candle I wrapped a piece of grosgrain ribbon around the bottom – fold the edge underneath itself. Use a paper piercer to put a hole through the layers of the ribbon and into the candle. Then use a Rhinestone brad and poke it through the ribbon and into the candle where the hole is.
To finish I used the Big Shot and the Scallop Circle #2 die to cut a piece of card stock to set the candle on. It’s not necessary but I thought it added a nice touch.
Here is the one with the snowmen that I made for my Sunday workshop. For this one I added a tag to the top so you could give it as a gift to someone.
Now it is your turn to play with these colors – then go to the UDI blog and add your creation to the linky section.
Stampin’ Up! Supplies for the Elf candle:
- Card stock: Garden Green
- Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Stampin’ Write Markers
- Stamp sets: Holiday Lineup
- Accessories: Real Red Grosgrain ribbon, Fire Circle Rhinestone Brads, Paper piercer, Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Scallop Circles #2 die, Heat Tool, tissue paper, wax paper
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
Let’s continue with Bingo….
Here we go with Monika’s Blog Bingo. This is Round 7! The group is full and all the cards were emailed out Monday 11/29. See this POST for more details on how to play and the previous winners and the players for this round.
And now for the next piece – Here is piece #7–the furniture from Loads of Love Accessories stamp set (stamped in Chocolate Chip).
If you have Bingo – 5 in a row be sure to email me.
Nov 9, 2010 | Bingo, Cards, Rock 'n Roll, Techniques, UDI Color Challenge |
Did you come by for the Royal Blog Tour? There were six different tours with lots of castles on each tour. Lots of different stamp sets and stamping styles. I hope you had a chance to browse and that you saw something you liked. I finally got through all the tours and saw lots of new ideas. Thanks to everyone that came by my blog and left me a nice comment! They were so nice to read. Normally I try to reply individually to them all but this time I have a busy week so I don’t intend to do that. I will be posting more details about each project and will try to answer any questions in those posts.
But today is Tuesday and it is time for another Utah Diva’s Color Challenge. Here is our inspiration for this week:
This week was tough for me. I pulled out the colors and looked at them for a long time trying to figure out how to get them to work together. With two different greens (Always Artichoke and Old Olive) and two different reds (Poppy Parade and Riding Hood Red) – I just didn’t think I could get it to work. I finally came up with the idea that different shades of red and green along with yellow reminded me of apples! Apples come in those colors so I needed an idea using apples.
I looked through my stamp sets to see what had apples – and guess what there is a Hostess Set called Apple Blossoms – perfect – I’ll go with that one.
My thought was to use the Rock ‘n Roll technique on the apples with different combination’s of the colors for the color challenge. Apples have different colors so this should be the perfect technique and a good way to incorporate all the colors.
Then what to do with all my Rock ‘n Rolled apples…..
I decided to use the idea from the catalog and make note cards – mine are post card style. And then I tied the whole stack together with Poppy Parade ribbon – like you might tie a stack of books together. And I added an apple tag with some Linen thread.
To do the Rock ‘n Roll technique you ink your stamp in one color of ink (typically the lighter color) and then roll the edges in another color of ink pad. Since I wanted all my leaves to be green – I did take off the ink on the stem and leaf when it wasn’t green and colored it back in with my Old Olive Stampin’ Write Marker before I stamped.
So try some of these combinations:
Old Olive rolled in Always Artichoke
So Saffron rolled in Poppy Parade
So Saffron rolled in Riding Hood Red
So Saffron rolled in Always Artichoke
Poppy Parade rolled in Always Artichoke
So Saffron rolled in Old Olive
Always Artichoke rolled in Old Olive
Old Olive rolled in Poppy parade
Poppy Parade rolled in Riding Hood Red
Riding Hood Red rolled in Poppy Parade
There are more combinations that you could try. For each post card I layered the Whisper White card stock using the same two colors that I Rock ‘n Rolled in. I hope you like this idea….
Now it is your turn to play with these colors – then go to the UDI blog and add your creation to the linky section. I can’t wait to see what you come up with it was a struggle for me!
Stampin’ Up! Supplies:
- Card stock: Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Poppy Parade, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Whisper White
- Ink: Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Poppy Parade, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron
- Stamp sets: Apple Blossoms
- Accessories: Poppy Parade Ribbon, 1-3/4″ circle punch, 1-3/8″ circle punch, Linen Thread, 1/16″ circle punch
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
Are you ready to get back to Blog Bingo? Thanks for being patient during the Royal Blog Tour. Since it has been a few days I wanted to go back and recap the pieces that were already called and then I’ll show you the new piece for today.
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 6 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I have now filled group 7 and won’t be taking any more names right now – I”ll be taking a Bingo break after group 7 plays – I may play again in the future so I hope you will continue to visit my blog. See this POST for more details on how to play and the previous winners.
Pieces for Round 6 called so far:
#1 – the crown from Tiny Tags stamp set (stamped in Poppy Parade)
#2 – the flower from Because I Care stamp set (stamped in Concord Crush)
#3 – the Heart from Cute by the Inch stamp set (stamped in Poppy Parade).
#4 -the snowflake from Season of Friendship stamp set (stamped in Concord Crush)
#5 – the teddy bear from Family Accessories stamp set (stamped in Chocolate Chip)
#6 – the tiny cupcake from Itty Bitty Bits stamp set (stamped in Poppy Parade).
And now for today’s piece – Here is piece #7 –the word CREATE from the Charming stamp set (stamped in Peach Parfait).
If you have Bingo – 5 in a row – make sure to email me.
Oct 24, 2010 | Bingo, class, Embossing, Halloween, SU Ribbon |
This is a fun project that I created for my Halloween class (it was last month). It is a BOO wall hanging. The letters are wood cut outs that came from a craft store. You could do the same thing with chipboard – if you use the dies from the Big Shot – it would be smaller though.
Each of the letters was covered with Craft Ink using a Sponge Dauber in the base color – Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black and Old Olive. Then I stamped with Craft Ink on each letter using the Wicked Cool stamp set. Surprisingly the ink did not dry like I thought. I started by making just one letter and when it wasn’t dry the next day I decided I needed to try something else. My solution – cover the whole letter with Clear Embossing Powder and heat with the Heat Tool. Problem solved and now they had a glaze look to them.
Then I decorated each letter with some punched pieces and ribbon. The ‘B’ uses the Decorative Label Punch, the Bat Punch, the Wide Oval Punch, and the Black Lace Raven ribbon. The witch boots are stamped and cut out and then I added the Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink to them.
For the first ‘O’ had the Basic Black Wide Grosgrain Striped Ribbon – torn in half so that it frays. Then for the tag I used the Bat Punch, the Jewelry Tag punch and the Small Oval punch. All are tied together with Linen Thread and tied to the bow. 
Also on the Black ‘O’ I stamped the candelabra’s from the Wicked Cool stamp set and then used the Moonlight Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink on each of the candle flames. It looks good in person – it gives them a spooky glow.
For the last ‘O’ I used the Decorative Label Punch, the Modern Label punch, the 1″ Circle punch (or it may be the 3/4″ inch – I’m looking at the picture and don’t want to walk upstairs to look at the real thing). The hat is stamped and cut out. 
There are actually two of the decorative label punches – one goes around the back of the letter and then the two are held together with the brads.
My goal was to attach everything to the letters so they couldn’t fall off. The tag on the ‘B’ is tied on with the lace ribbon, and the first ‘O’ is of course the ribbon tied around. So for this one I used the punched pieces with the brads.
At the very top I added a bunch of ribbon tied in a knot around the hanger. It turned out to be a fun Halloween decoration – I have mine hanging in my kitchen.
So how about Bingo – I’m looking for a new winner – is today going to be the day????
Let’s play for today ….
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 5 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I’m currently taking names for Round 7. See this POST for more details on how to join, how to play and the previous winners.
Here is piece #13 –the 
cupcake from Cute by the Inch stamp set (stamped in Chocolate Chip).
Oct 12, 2010 | Big Shot, Bingo, Cards, Poppin' Pastels, Thank You, UDI Color Challenge |
Welcome to week 5 of the weekly Color Challenge over at the Utah Diva’s International Blog. Gretchen picked some bright spring colors this week. At least I think they are very spring like. I always start by pulling out the colors for the color challenge and putting those pieces of card stock on my craft table. I had them out while I worked on other projects. I didn’t have anything in mind so I just wanted to look at them for awhile.
I was working on another project with the Just Believe stamp set and the Butterflies from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit. I decided the colors for the color challenge could be flowers or butterflies so I started rolling around different ideas in my head. And this is what I came up with.
I pulled out my Stampin’ Pastels – I have the new box with all the new colors in it and I haven’t used them yet. I stamped the large floral image from the Just Believe stamp set in VersaMark ink and then used the Stampin’ Pastels to color the image. This technique is called “Poppin’ Pastels”. I use qtips to add the color and it sticks to where you have the VersaMark ink making the image “pop”.
Then I cut butterflies with the Big Shot and the Beautiful Wings embosslit die. I added those scattered around the flowers. And then I added the little pearls to some of them.
The last thing I did was add some sparkle to the whole card. You can’t really see it in the picture I took of the whole card. So I took a close up while I held it up in the sunlight so you can see the fine sparkle that is all over the card. I hope you can see it – it really sparkles. I used an empty Stampin’ Mist bottle that I cleaned – I put some rubbing alcohol in it and mixed in some Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint. Shake it up and it sprays out a fine shimmery mist over your card. I did do this inside my Color Catcher so I won’t shimmer my craft table!
Now it is your turn to play with these colors – then go to the UDI blog and add your creation to the linky section. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Stampin’ Up! Supplies:
- Card stock: Certainly Celery, Perfect Plum, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
- Ink: Pacific Point, Certainly Celery, VersaMark
- Stamp sets: Just Believe
- Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint
- Basic Pearls
- Big Shot Die-Cut machine, Beautiful Wings Embosslit
- Modern Label Punch
- Stampin’ Pastels
- Stampin’ Sponge
- Color Catcher
- Q-tips, Rubbing Alcohol, fine mist spray bottle
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
I’m starting a new round of Monika’s Blog Bingo today – this is Group 5.
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 5 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I’m currently taking names for Round 7. See this POST for more details on how to join, how to play and the previous winners.
Here is piece #1 –the Pear from Cheep Talk stamp set (stamped in Pear Pizzazz).
The idea for this card came from the Stampin’ Success magazine that Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators receive each month. It is packed with ideas and articles for us to read. I decided to use the layout and then make more than just the one card that they showed but create more cards using the other stamps in the Punch Bunch stamp set. I gave everyone at my classes the choice of what they wanted to make. Each card was unique as every person used a different stamp and selection of the die cuts from the Ice Cream Parlor pack.
The card base is Old Olive. At the bottom is a die-cut strip, then above that is a piece of the double-sided Designer Series paper – some people chose to show the dotted side and others the pink side. Above that is a piece of the Ice Cream parlor ribbon – this ribbon has flowers printed on one side so when you tie it in a knot make sure you twist the end so the printed side shows. Stamp the image and punch out with the coordinating punch and add it to the front with Stampin’ Dimensionals. See below for the instructions on creating the pierced circle and do that before you add all the die-cuts and the buttons. One trick that you might want to know about the die-cuts – if you want to pop them up with Stampin’ Dimensionals – stick them to your jeans first to remove some of the adhesive on the back and then add the dimensionals to pop them up.
Ta-da! A pierced circle!
